Thursday, April 17, 2008

So I'm continuing to love my subscription to Everyday Food. Yesterday I made Green-Pea Soup with Cheddar-Scallion Panini from the March issue. It's very fast and very easy. The panino is basically a grilled cheese with scallions, and the soup is mostly pureed frozen peas and chicken broth.

By the way, I have a story about frozen peas. I recently caught an episode of Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello in which Michael was making a pea dish with frozen peas and, I suppose, felt the need to justify not using fresh peas. He told a story about how, when he was a young chef in France, he asked one of the older chefs how he got his pea sauce to be such a fresh, vibrant green. The chef took Michael over to the freezer and revealed a stash of frozen peas. "Monsieur, it is zee Birds Eye peas," said the chef. I'm paraphrasing here, but Michael definitely said that the French chef showed him "Birds Eye" peas. And you know what? They are pretty darn good.

That being said, the soup, while fresh and bright, is lacking a bit of oomph. I'm not sure what else to do with it, but I thought it might be good with some seasoned croutons floating on top. I served this for dinner but, because it's so light, I think it would make a better lunch. And the sandwich is fabulous. Be sure to use sharp cheddar.

The complete recipe is here. I followed it exactly except for adding extra lemon juice, salt, and pepper to the soup.